Museum Info

Monday – Saturday:
10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Sunday:
Noon – 5 p.m.

500 W. Washington St.
Indianapolis, IN 46204

Indigenous Peoples’ Day Community Celebration

Oct. 14, 2024

Stay tuned for information about this year’s Indigenous Peoples’ Day celebration!

What is Indigenous Peoples’ Day?

Indigenous Peoples’ Day is a holiday that celebrates and raises awareness of the many cultures of Indigenous or Native American peoples’ all across the United States. In 1977, participants at the United Nations International Conference on Discrimination against Indigenous Populations in the Americas, proposed that Indigenous Peoples’ Day replace Columbus Day. Indigenous Peoples’ Day recognizes that Native people are the first inhabitants of the Americas, including the lands that later became the United States of America. It also urges Americans to rethink the history they learned as a child and help to understand the true history of the Americas.

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“Today, Indigenous communities continue to suffer from economic and health disparities relative to the general population, continue to witness the same assaults on our lands that have resulted in environmental degradation; however, we continue to persevere, flourish and celebrate our cultures and ways of knowing, while also thriving in contemporary America. On Indigenous Peoples’ Day we invite you to take a little time to learn more about the cultures of the people who originally inhabited the land on which you now live. Acknowledging and taking part in Indigenous Peoples’ Day can be liberating and uplifting to museum visitors, and we encourage and invite all to celebrate with us.”

Monica Raphael (Anishinaabe / Sičáŋğu Lakota)

Thomas G. and Susan C. Hoback curator of Great Lakes Native cultures and community engagement

Support Native-Owned Businesses

Food & Drink

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Camins2Dreams – Wine straight from the vineyards in Sta. Rita Hills, this Native ran company’s “philosophy is to make hand-crafted, terroir-driven wines that are fermented with natural yeast and use minimal intervention in the winery.”

Native Coffee Trades – Based in New York, and run by Native Americans (Unkechaug and Shinnecock Nations) they know the impotance of working with native communities and cooperative family farms throughout South and Central America.

Sarjesa – A socially focused tea company based in Canada that raises awareness for missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

Séka Hills – Specialty foods, like olive oil, wildflower honey, nuts, beef jerky, hummus, and pickled asparagus, from the Yocha Dene Wintun Nation.

Spotted Horse Coffees – Roasts fair trade and organic coffee, featuring amazing Indigenous Women Coffee Producers, from El Salvador, Chiapas, Costa Rica, Honduras, and more.

Star Village Coffee – A native-owned and family operated coffee roasting company located on the Reno Sparks Indian Colony.

Tanka Bar – Owned by Oglala Lakotas on the Pine Ridge Reservation, SD, with a mission to provide the very best foods that are sustainably grown by Native American producers, minimally processed with care and respect, to help you feed mind, body, and spirit.

Thunder Island Coffee Roasters – A native-owned & operated coffeee roasting company, located on the Shinnecock Indian Reservation, Long Island, New York.

Beauty / Skin Care / Health

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Cheekbone Beauty – Indigenous-owned beauty brand, known for their make-up and Warrior Women liquid lipsticks.

Mother Earth Essentials – Products for the body.

Sister Sky – Lotions, soaps, shampoos, conditioners.

Herbal Lodge – Natural and organic healing products.

ArXotica – Anti-aging beauty products from the arctic tundra with a triple blend of plants and berries, glacier water, and extra virgin salmon oil.

Skwálen – Indigenous skin care and beauty brand celebrating ancestral plant relationships and Squamish culture.

Nizhoni Soaps – Natural scents and real herbs sourced from the Navajo Nation whipped into soaps, scrubs, wax melts, and more.

Haipažaža Pȟežuta – Lakota-made soaps, body butter, hair products, scrubs, bath bombs, and lip balm created from traditional plant knowledge.

Blended Girl Cosmetics – Eyeshadow palettes, lashes, brush sets, and more.

Ah Shí – Make up kits, cosmetics, skincare, and lipsticks based in Navajo land.

Bison Star Naturals – Lotion, liquid soap, soap, lip balm, and more based out of Taos, NM.

Bookstores

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Birchbark Books – Owned by Louise Erdrich, a store specializing in books, art, and jewelry based out of Minneapolis.

Native Realities – All your Indigenous comic book needs and wants.

Chickasaw Press – Native-owned from Oklahoma, featuring both fiction and non-fiction options.

Great Oak Press – Native-owned from California, focusing. onsharing and preserving Indigenous languages and cultures.

Red Planet Books & Comics – Native Realities, the Albuquerque-based company behind the indigenous Comic Con, opened this store to feature comics, toys, games, kid’s books and pop art from Native and Indigenous artists and writer.

Watch, Read, and Listen to Native Creators

Indigenous Led Podcasts:

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Unreserved
Host:
Rosanna Deerchild
About: Unreserved is the radio space for Indigenous voices – our cousins, our aunties, our elders, our heroes. Rosanna Deerchild guides us on the path to better understand our shared story. Together, we learn and unlearn, laugh and become gentler in all our relations.

The Secret Life of Canada
Hosts:
Leah-Simone Bowen and Falen Johnson
About:
The Secret Life of Canada is a podcast about the country you know and the stories you don’t. Join hosts Leah-Simone Bowen and Falen Johnson as they reveal the beautiful, terrible and weird histories of this land.

All My Relations
Hosts: Matika Wilbur (Swinomish and Tulalip) & Adrienne Keene (Cherokee)
About: All My Relations is a team of folks who care about representations, and how Native peoples are represented in mainstream media. Between us we have decades of experience working in and with Native communities, and writing and speaking about issues of representation.

Bonus Episode: Celebrate Indigenous People’s Day Not Columbus Day

Coffee with My Ma
Hosts: Letterkenny Actress Kaniehtiio Horn (Mohawk) and her mom Kahentinetha Horn.
About: My radical activist mother Kahentinetha Horn tells me stories of her very long adventurous life, always with the sense of humour that carried her through.

Missing and Murdered
About: Investigative journalist Connie Walker recounts stories of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

Métis in Space
About: Chelsea Vowel and Molly Swain, both Métis, drink a bottle of wine and review sci-fi movies and television shows from a critical Indigenous lens.

Red Man Laughing
Hosts: Ryan McMahon (Anishinaabe).
About: Ryan’s storytelling comedy style is fast paced, loose & irreverent as he explores the good, the bad & the ugly between Indian Country & the mainstream on RML.

Tiddas 4 Tiddas
Hosts: Marlee Silva (Kamilaori & Dunghutti)
About: In each episode, Silva shares stories of Indigenous women across the country doing amazing things. Each chat will inspire you as these incredible women celebrate their culture and incredible careers.

Music

Films:

See Films

Prey
Wildwood
Sacheen: Breaking the Silence
Wild Indian
Falls Around Her
Without A Whisper – Konnón:Kwe
More Than Frybread
Smoke Signals
Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World
Clearcut
Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner
Reel Injun [Film]
Osama Likes Frybread [YouTube short video]
Ten Canoes
Four Sheets to the Wind
On the Ice
Medicine River [TV Movie]
Harold of Orange
Before Tomorrow
Powwow Highway
The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open

 

Television Shows:

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Dark Winds
Rutherford Falls
Reservation Dogs
Spirit Rangers
Trickster
Mohawk Girls

Authors:

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Robin Wall Kimmerer
Brandon Hobson
Layli Long Soldier
Tanya Tagaq
Terese Marie Mailhot
Joshua Whitehead
Billy-Ray Belcourt
Jessica Hernandez
Diane Wilson
Rebecca Roanhorse
Eden Robinson
Waubgeshig Rice
Aviaq Johnston
Stephen Graham Jones
Daniel H. Wilson
Louise Erdrich
Joy Harjo
Jack D. Forbes
Dennis E. Staples
Natalie Diaz
Richard Wagamese
Carol Rose GoldenEagle
Cherie Dimaline
Tommy Orange
Leslie Marmon Silko
David Robertson
Darcie Little Badger

Children's Books

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You can find all these children’s books and more in the Eiteljorg Museum Resource Center to check out or read while you visit.

We Are Water Protectors
Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story
What’s my Superpower?

I am Native
Métis Christmas Mittens
Spirits of the Northern Lights
Surviving the City, part 1

Explore Native artworks at the Eiteljorg
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